In the world of work, a layoff is one of the most unpleasant experiences that can exist and the people who experience it can have their mental health affected very intensely if they enter into a dynamic of self-sabotage after experiencing that situation.
From stress and anxiety, to depression, panic attacks, psychological rumination and somatic symptoms, there are many psychological or emotional alterations that people who become unemployed suddenly or unexpectedly may go through.
The emotional sphere is one of the aspects that can be most affected in a person who loses their job, which is why it is so important to learn various guidelines; Therefore, here we will review several tips to emotionally managing a layoff.
Guidelines and advice for emotional management in the event of a job dismissal
These are some tips that can help you if you need to emotionally manage a situation of dismissal from work.
1. Accept your emotions
As with any traumatic experience, when you lose your job it is normal for you to begin to feel a series of diverse emotions related to discomfort, pain, anger, frustration or sadness.
All these emotions will have a series of effects on your mental health, but At the beginning it is important that you do not deny or hide them ; On the contrary, it is recommended that they come out and be all channeled outwards.
Letting emotions flow is the first step to begin to heal ourselves and treat our emotional problems, as well as so that they do not affect us excessively.
2. After a break, maintain a goal-oriented attitude
Maintaining a positive and goal-oriented attitude is the next step so that everything that happens to us from this moment on is appropriate to our interests. Now, it may be that in the first hours after dismissal you need a break, because These types of experiences can be exhausting due to the stress they generate ; Do not blame yourself for needing to rest in the first phase of this emotional recovery process.
3. Accept the grief
The loss of a job, like any other loss, also represents a psychological grief for any person, which must be experienced and overcome like any other grief. Feeling bad for several days or even weeks, to the right extent, is normal; It doesn’t mean something is wrong with us.
To manage unemployment it is important to go through all the phases of grief: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
4. Look forward without hard feelings
The constructive mindset is key; If we focus on thinking about how to get revenge or the grudges we accumulate against previous employers, the main ones affected will be us. It is necessary to focus on our well-being, not on the discomfort of others, turning our attention towards what lies ahead and without looking back except to learn what happened and improve our situation.
Likewise, it is important that we abandon any idea or need for revenge towards anyone, since that will also only bring us negative things. Now, that does not mean that if it is possible to take legal action for breach of contract or unfair dismissals we should not do so.
5. Keep your mind busy while you consider your next move
In this sense, it is also important to keep the mind busy with hobbies that help us stay in the present moment and let go of intrusive thoughts. This will help us disconnect from our worries, something we should do from time to time to avoid rapid psychological wear. It’s one thing to run away from our problems and another thing to feed anxious thoughts over and over again.
In this sense, doing physical exercise or dedicating ourselves to creative tasks such as drawing, writing or composing music is usually of great help.
6. Lean on your environment
There is nothing wrong with asking for help. The environment is essential to receive quality psychological support that helps us overcome an unexpected dismissal.
In this case we are talking about friends, family or the couple themselves; In short, loved ones who will give us love, understanding and other points of view. These last ones are very important to avoid falling into a very biased and pessimistic interpretation of reality something that usually happens to those who are fired from work (because their way of thinking is colored by the feelings associated with fear and sadness).
7. Know yourself
Knowing yourself will help you know firsthand your needs, the emotions you experience in this process, and your strengths. This is important because many people become disconnected from their own values ​​and interests if they have been working in the same place for many years and progressively accepting tasks and functions for the simple fact that they bring them income.
Having several useful strengths and strategies to overcome this layoff will help us move forward much faster. In this sense, it can be useful to do a SWOT analysis.
8. Make short and medium term decisions
In moments of difficulty such as loss of employment, we must make decisions on specific, short-term issues with specific objectives, taking into account that the majority of people do not have savings to sustain their way of life for many months in a row. . These goals should be reflected in our calendar, and the ideal is that we organize them sequentially, ensuring that we do not have to face them all at once so that the situation does not overwhelm us emotionally and we develop problems due to excess stress.
9. Assume that change can be positive
Although it may not seem like it, each crisis can be a new opportunity to grow and improve both personally and professionally.
This means that We must dedicate ourselves completely to seeking all the good and positive that this change in vocational paradigm can bring us.
The changes can be very positive if we take them as a process of readjustment to work life without the dynamics that we have automated from the work we left behind; Facing the challenge of placing ourselves in the professional field helps us adopt a more distanced perspective of what we can offer and what we are capable of learning in other jobs or other productive roles.
Are you looking for professional psychological assistance?
If you are interested in having psychotherapeutic assistance, contact me.
@proessional(2054915)
Am Desiree Infante psychologist and neuropsychologist, and I serve people of all ages.
